Wildfarmed: Andy Cato (Groove Armada) in conversation with Nihal Arthanayak

Farming has been Groove Armada’s Andy Cato’s full focus for 15 years, ever since an article he read about the environmental consequences of food production turned his life upside down — it ended with the line, “if you don’t like the system, don’t depend on it.”

A quest to become self-sufficient led to a fascination with the soil, plants, and the miracle at work in the few inches of topsoil that sustains us.``

He sold the rights to the songs he had written to buy a farm and attempt to join the ranks of those building new kinds of farming systems. It was a brutal lesson: he was farming heavily depleted soils, trying to bring diversity back into his fields against all the odds. This led him to found Wildfarmed, a food and farming business that grows regenerative wheat to make flour, as well as barley and oats, with his co-founders George Lamb and Edd Lees.

His belief is that food and farming are our greatest points of agency to deal with the multiple crises we face. If we can give a largely urban population quality food from nature-rich landscapes that allow them to participate in restoring nature and health, it’s an incredibly powerful and hopeful message.

Speakers:

Andy Cato is perhaps best known as one half of the iconic electronic duo Groove Armada, but today he is also a farmer and one of the founders of Wildfarmed. 

Knighted with the French Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole, winner of the 2020 Agro-Ecological Innovation Prize, and now a National Trust tenant farmer, Andy’s shift from music to regenerative farming has brought fresh perspectives. From day one, his farming career has involved tireless research and hands-on experimentation. With over 17 years of practical experience, Andy co-founded Wildfarmed in 2019 — a pioneering regenerative food and farming business bringing quality food, grown in nature-rich landscapes, to the high street. https://wildfarmed.com/

Nihal Arthanayake

Nihal Arthanayake is a British broadcaster, journalist, and author.. He is known for his work at BBC Radio 1, BBC Asian Network, BBC Radio 5 Live and for his podcast, Headliners, with unrivalled long form interviews into the worlds of art, books, sport, music, film, and TV; also available on BBC Sounds.  Nihall is also Author of Let’s Talk: How to Have Better Conversations, published in 2022.